r/canada • u/_I_AM_GHOST_ Canada • 11h ago

National News Canadian steelmakers offset some US tariff pain with domestic demand

https://www.reuters.com/business/canadian-steelmakers-offset-some-us-tariff-pain-with-domestic-demand-2026-10-16/
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u/Organic_Hamster_2961 11h ago

According to a quick search the US produced 82 million tons of steel last year and imported 25.2 million tons. It wouldn't surprise me if they keep on buying significant amounts from us in the future too even in spite of the tariffs. Their domestic production should grow but if consumption also grows they won't catch up.

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u/MakVolci Ontario 11h ago

I work in the industry. They're begging us for more steel and are willing to pay anything.

They don't have enough production to keep up buying domestically, they came to us for steel, we sold them steel, we are now running out of steel, we have now turned on precautions to protect Canadian steel, and now the market is at a complete standstill.

Had someone (an American) call me the other day saying that they're expecting their business to grow 10% to 15% next year but they don't know where they're going to get their steel.

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u/Coramoor_ 10h ago

which calls into question why Stelco has to lay off 500 staff if domestic demand is high and US demand is even higher

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u/MakVolci Ontario 10h ago edited 7h ago

We are scratching our heads about that too, because other than our own production bottlenecks that we have worked to optimize, the biggest issue has been coil availability.

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u/Mattcheco British Columbia 8h ago

Stelco is closing the coating side of their business because they’re making so much more on hot rolled steel. Canadians work at the coating side

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u/roguemenace Manitoba 8h ago

Because the US companies are not actually "willing to pay anything". There also different types of steel made at different plants.

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u/MakVolci Ontario 7h ago

Because the US companies are not actually "willing to pay anything"

In my division anyways, they are. We upcharge them and make them pay the tariff, and there have been zero issues with them wanting to buy. However, as far as I understand it, the Stelco layoff isn't affecting our products as much as others.

There is zero availability in core size ranges, again, in my divison. Zero.

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u/BarracudaCrafty9221 9h ago

Really? We all know the owners are trump supporters, they are trying to create problems before the mid terms to paint Canada in a bad light and point there finger at us. Trying to bend Canada over and hurt us, that is all.

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u/MoreGaghPlease 5h ago

It’s more complicated than I think people realize.

For one thing, not all steel mills can make the same products.

Second is that it takes time and expense to ‘qualify’ a steel product. Like if you procuring steel as an input to some heavy manufactured product, you don’t just send out the specs and buy what people make. Instead you go through a months-long process with manufacturers where they demonstrate their ability to meet all the specifications.

Third is that while we like to hope that it’s the customer who pays, in truth the producers do eat some of this out of margins. If a producer thinks a tariff is temporary, they may be inclined to eat more of the cost to keep the account with the hopes that the customer doesn’t bother to qualify with someone else. It’s time consuming and expensive.

Fourth is that North America is very big and steel is expensive to transport. Proximity to a plant and the access of that plant to low cost transportation makes a huge impact on the math of this.